Protecting Your Business From Facebook Fraud

The Westboro Baptist Church, best known for picketing the funerals of soldiers, don't really see eye to eye with most people. Their views are quite radical, and they often picket at the most inappropriate of times.

A story is circulating the internet today, claiming that the infamous hacker “Anonymous” has taken over Westboro Baptist Church's Facebook page (Facebook Fraud). However, this is not the case. Westboro Baptist Church doesn't even have a Facebook page.

The only pages you'll find are imposters, poking fun at the church group. Basically, all Anonymous did was create a Facebook page (Facebook Fraud) claiming to be the Westboro Baptist Church. It was created on December 16, 2012, days after the church claimed they would picket the funerals of the Sandy Hook victims.

But isn't this action illegal? Not necessarily. Here are the facts regarding imposter Facebook pages, and why you should choose a cheap server hosting option over a free hosting option, like Facebook.

Protecting Your Business From Facebook Fraud: Facebook Policies

When you sign up for Facebook, you must accept their terms and conditions. One of these terms clearly states: a fake name may not be used. You also cannot set up an account in someone else's name, let's say an ex-girlfriend, in order to ruin their reputation. Facebook will cancel the fake page, as well as your real account.

But what if you are setting up a business page? A Facebook page might be created even if your business isn't behind the page. How can this happen?

If someone checks into your business from a smartphone (and you don't have an official business Facebook page) a page is automatically created for the purpose of pinning a user's location to a map. This way, anyone can use that location in the future. If this is the case, it's simple to claim the page as your own by clicking the “settings” menu at the top of that page, selecting “Is this your business?” and following the on-screen steps.

If someone has created that page, you won't be able to claim it as your own, as someone already has.

Let's say you are representing the Westboro Baptist Church, and you've come across these fake pages, misrepresenting your organization. You can report them to Facebook to solve the problem by clicking the settings menu, choosing “Report/Block,” “Submit a Report,” and “This person is impersonating someone.”

If you find that someone is posting your copyright/trademark protected material, you can submit a claim to Facebook. Facebook will then remove the offensive material, and that poster will get to keep their account. If this person continues to post your copyright/trademark protected material, their account may then be deleted.

Protecting Your Business From Facebook Fraud: Identity Theft

Numerous states have deemed fake Facebook pages to be a form of identity theft as well.

Example: a New Jersey woman created a false Facebook account to misrepresent her ex, a narcotics officer, in a bad light. The state of NJ determined she was guilty of identity theft, especially given the fact the false postings could have destroyed his career.

Check the laws in your state to see what identity theft is defined as, so that you can take appropriate action to protect your business or brand.

Preventing Facebook Fraud

One way you can assure your company isn't the victim of such Facebook fraud: possess more than just a Facebook page. If you are a business, you should not skimp on web hosting. Yes, Facebook is a wonderful, free way to reach your customers, but if you have a website listed on that Facebook page, customers would be able to verify it is truly your company.

You don't have to go crazy spending a boatload of money, you can choose a cheap server hosting company. Cheap server hosting offers low operational costs, and is perfect for your small business.

It may not guarantee your business is safe from identity theft or copyright infringement, but obtaining a website from a cheap server hosting company gives your customers a way to verify the identity of a Facebook page.

Whether or not Westboro Baptist Church deserves the current Facebook attacks… is another story altogether — I'll let you take it away in the comments.

About Khristen Foss

Khristen Foss is a New Hampshire-based freelance writer specializing in technology topics. Her work has been featured on numerous blogs and websites including Rocky Mountain Tracking where she's a full-time staff writer.

Very good article, you have mentioned some very interesting and important points. Facebook fraud is a very sensitive issue for me. In this age of technology bad people often harm others using Facebook. You simply do not want to risk yourself by being a victim of Facebook fraud. You must take appropriate steps.

It does make plenty of sense to have a cheap web hosting provider than using a free web hosting site especially if you are a small business owner. Trying to save a few bucks may not be a very good idea, and doesn’t make much business sense if a pay web hosting site can help your business avoid online fraud like identity theft.

Unfortunately protecting your business from Facebook fraud, while not impossible, is hard to do. Nowadays you can go on sites like fiverr and have a duplicate made for … well… 5 bucks. It’s damaging to your business and customers, and it sucks that there really is no way to protect yourself fully.

My husband and I started our small business last year. We encountered a similar problem with our business Facebook page. Since then, we created a website and linked it with our Facebook profile. Advertising on the internet has been very profitable for our business and having our own website seems to make our customers feel more confident that we offer quality services. Our profits have continued to grow and about 65% of our customers report that they found us on the internet via our website, compared to Facebook where only about 5% of our customers found us.

This article really brought to light the importance of having a legiimate website to verily that your business is real. I had no idea that fake Facebook accounts was such a huge problem. I, as a consumer, am going to follow your suggestions for verifying the existence of any business that I would potentially do business with on Facebook. I can see how these fake accounts could potentially lead to consumer fraud. Thanks for bringing this issue to light.

It’s very interesting that it’s legal to create Facebook pages like this, claiming to be a person or company that you are not. It can really do harm to a business or an individual’s reputation, especially if they have no knowledge of what it going on. I actually saw this false page for Westboro Baptist Church circulating on my Facebook news feed, as my Facebook friends were encouraging others to take a look at what Westboro Baptist Church was saying. It’s sad that people hack or create false accounts, impersonating others and harming their reputation.